the4ofus....and all our friends just got back from the Westerdam.....

[the4ofusandallourfriends]

and we had a great time! We are a group of 13 consisting of 11 to 50 year olds.... I'm 37 myself. This was our family's 10th...plus cruise...sorry, I've lost count. We always travel with our kids. No one gets left behind.

We've done one HAL cruise about 8 years ago on the old Westerdam, that was great.....but.....boy were the people old and the ship dead after supper. There was no kids on board then.

The new Westerdam ship was beautiful, a perfect size to get around, great decor, well thought out seating throughout.

The four of us had an inside room on deck 1. Great location for easy access to everything including getting on and off on ports.....and the room was nice and big!

Cruise director Jason was outstanding.

Joel Mason who headlined a couple shows was a great musician, good singer and really funny guy.

The food was superb....all soups outstanding.

The ship was surprisingly very lively late into the night.

Surprisingly there was quite a few families with kids of all ages on board and lots of couples in their 30's and 40's.

Our only complaints:
The pool area is quite small which made it harder to get a chair with all the chair hogs on HAL. Thank goodness none of us are big tanners anymore....Even the promenade chairs were hogged with books and towels. Promenade cushions were hogged. We even saw a few people doubling up the cushions despite people needing them.

The back pool was apparently an adult pool only, even though it has the decor of a kids pool and that is where all the activities and pool games occurred. I personally never even saw a sign but the boys (who were being well behaved) were told so by a couple of elderly women (who were not even swimming) this was so.

The food was really good, but dinner took 2.5 hours EVERY night! I wish I could blame the waiter but he worked his butt off with way too many tables and not much assistance from others.

Half moon Cay lunch buffet was a mess and kinda gross......and although still a beautiful beach I felt it had lost it's natural beauty it had when we visited 8 years ago

In Aruba we did the Jolly Pirates something's fishy snorkelling. Really fun...but we felt it sorta turned into a half booze cruise which is not what we wanted for the kids....but we all had fun anyways and the snorkelling was good.

In curacoa we rented a car and drove to Porto Marie beach....Amazing snorkelling!

We had a great time. This is a super relaxing itineary where you can sleep in most mornings....no annoying customs to do....3 sea days.....just a great cruise overall!

[canadianbear]

Wow!!! How great to travel with the family....we have always done the same thing and love it. Sounds like all in all you had a wonderful time. We have only done 2 cruises and both were to Alaska. Saving for the Panama Canal cruise or South America now. Thanks for the great review.

[Krazy Kruizers]

Welcome home. Glad you had a wonderful cruise.

We have sailed quite a few days on the Westerdam and never did we spend 2.5 hours at dinner. Think you should have talked to your area captain.

[robcool]

Glad you had a good cruise, partly from a selfish perspective, I will be sailing on Westerdam in a few weeks! Thanks for the review!

I am also glad that Jolly Pirates was worth it, that is the excursion we have picked also. Any problem getting from the port to where the excursion starts?

[IRL_Joanie]

Thanks for the review. Glad to see you liked the new Westerdam over the old one

Joanie

[the4ofusandallourfriends]

Originally Posted by robcool

Glad you had a good cruise, partly from a selfish perspective, I will be sailing on Westerdam in a few weeks! Thanks for the review!

I am also glad that Jolly Pirates was worth it, that is the excursion we have picked also. Any problem getting from the port to where the excursion starts?

The local bus station is very easy to find as you get off the ship. The price for a return ticket is 2.60 US. We got off at the holiday inn. We were a bit early, so we spent a bit of time at the shops in front of the holiday inn and then made our way to the beach. The excursion is definately a great value for the money. Although there was alot of people on there just for the drinking which starts right away. I'm surprised how many people never got off the ship to snorkel. With the weird time constraints of the noon to midnight docking it was by far a great choice for an excursion.

OH and I almost forgot......the Westerdam beds are ridiculously comfortable. Having dealt with recent bouts of insomnia I slept better on that boat than I have in months.

Regarding the table we really wanted to say something but personally I didn't want to get our waiter in trouble. We were also a table for 10, so I'm not sure if that played into that (although in all our cruises we've always had big tables and it's not usually an issue). We were put at a set 5:30pm early dining time but downstairs with the AYWD crowd. Things would go fast until other tables started filling up...and then it was SLOW.....Our waiter was a bit of an older man and he was working really hard, so we just felt kinda bad for him. He'd get our orders all mixed up. Bring out food no one ordered that we would pass around and taste......it actually kinda became funny. His assistant just seemed a bit off. Thank goodness the food was so good.....We'd get so frustrated waiting...and then we'd get our food and think it was so good.....you would just hear moanings and "oh...this was worth the wait"...By day 3 we were bringing reading materials, the dailies, the newspapers, the kids played cards, we'd have time between courses for the odd person to get a chore done.....lol

[Copper10-8]

Originally Posted by the4ofusandallourfriends

..................
The back pool was apparently an adult pool only, even though it has the decor of a kids pool and that is where all the activities and pool games occurred. I personally never even saw a sign but the boys (who were being well behaved) were told so by a couple of elderly women (who were not even swimming) this was so.



...............

If there are no signs (permanent or temp) by that aft/Sea View pool stating it is an "Adults Only" pool, no matter how many times "elderly women" or others try to convince your kids, it just ain't so! Some people just want it that way

Thanks for taking the time and effort for your review!

[harryjr]

4 of us,
I'm assuming you were on the same cruise we were on that just ended on the 22nd. Would your group happen to be the 13 from London, Ontario? If so, we are the ones from Daytona Beach who heard the girls humming a "familiar" song on the promenade deck. We also rented a car and went to Porto Marie, and I'll have to agree that it was a beautiful spot with some of the best snorkeling we've ever done. We wish we could have met more of the friends in your group--maybe next time.

[the4ofusandallourfriends]

Originally Posted by harryjr

4 of us,
I'm assuming you were on the same cruise we were on that just ended on the 22nd. Would your group happen to be the 13 from London, Ontario? If so, we are the ones from Daytona Beach who heard the girls humming a "familiar" song on the promenade deck. We also rented a car and went to Porto Marie, and I'll have to agree that it was a beautiful spot with some of the best snorkeling we've ever done. We wish we could have met more of the friends in your group--maybe next time.

Yes we are the group of 13! We were hoping to bump into you during the last supper (we do get really bored....we would have welcomed any visits to pass the time.....lol) It was really wonderful to meet you! Say hello to your wife.